5 Ways to Minimize Your Stomach with Clothing

One thing I hear from many of my clients is that their stomach is an area that they often want to minimize. In this blog post, I’m providing 5 easy ways to minimize your stomach with clothing.

1 – Draw Attention to Other Areas

One thing I teach in myonline course “Be Your Own Stylist” is how to create ‘balance’ in the body. Basically, that means if you have an area on your body that you want to minimize, you’ll want to highlight another area and draw the eye toward that instead. So in the case of minimizing your stomach area, you would want to draw the eye up and away toward the neck/shoulders. Pick tops that have accents around the shoulders, v-neck tops, or use fun accessories like scarves and earrings.

2 – Use Lines to Create a Slimming Illusion

Using ‘lines’ in your style doesn’t just refer to vertical or horizontal stripes. ‘Lines’ are also used to create a slimming appearance and can be done by using vertical patterns, vertical color blocked tops, or asymmetrical necklines. You’ll want to avoid tops with a hem that ends right at your stomach, as a horizontal ‘line’ in this area can appear to cut your midsection in half and cause it to look wider, so be sure to pick tops that cover your entire stomach and waist.

3 – Know the difference between fitted and tight

I think many women fear that anything fitted will emphasize an area, but wearing oversized tops that are too loose or flowy can actually have the opposite effect and make you look larger by adding unwanted volume. Instead, look for tops that are fitted, but not tight to the point that they show any bumps.

4 – Pick the right prints & fabric

Large prints in high contrast colors (example: yellow on black) draw attention to areas, whereas smaller prints in low contrast colors (example: light gray on black) can provide a slimming effect because your eye naturally groups low contrast colors together. When it comes to fabric, lightweight fabric can get clingy, so look for thicker fabrics like ponte. I also recommend avoiding any blouses or dresses made out of fabric that is cut on the bias as they are famous for highlighting any bumps.

5 – Wear well fitting pants

When pants are just a bit too tight around your midsection it emphasizes the stomach area. I know sometimes we want to squeeze into too-tight pants (I’ve done it too) but let’s face it, aside from making you feel super uncomfortable when you have fabric digging into your skin (NOT fun), it also can cause an unflattering look that calls even more attention to your midsection. Be sure to pick pants that are fitted around your midsection without being too tight, and skip the low-rise pants and pick mid to high rise instead.

Below are some of my shopping picks for items that help minimize your stomach area.